Church of St Dyfnog | |
---|---|
53°09′35″N3°22′30″W / 53.1596°N 3.3749°W | |
OS grid reference | SJ081633 |
Location | Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch, Denbighshire |
Country | Wales |
Denomination | Church in Wales |
Website | St Dyfnog's Church website |
History | |
Status | parish church |
Founded | 13th century |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Active |
Heritage designation | Grade I |
Designated | 19 July 1966 |
Architectural type | Church |
Administration | |
Diocese | St Asaph |
Archdeaconry | St Asaph |
Deanery | Denbigh |
Parish | Mission Area of Denbigh |
Clergy | |
Vicar(s) | Rev. Val Rowlands |
St Dyfnog's Church is a small church in the village of Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch (Llanrhaeadr) in Denbighshire, Wales. The church stands on the western edge of the Llanrhaeadr Hall estate, and its setting was developed by the estate in the 18th and 19th centuries as The Dingle. The eyecatcher at its western end is St Dyfnog's Well. Associated with the 6th century Welsh saint, Saint Dyfnog, to whom the church is dedicated, it became an important holy well pilgrimage site in the 17th century. The church dates from the 13th century, although with much rebuilding in the 15th and 16th. It contains an important Tree of Jesse stained glass window which has been described as "some of the finest glass in Wales". [1] St Dyfnog's remains an active church in the Diocese of St Asaph and is a Grade I listed building.
Dyfnog was the son of Medrod ab Caradog Freichfas and a brother of the grandfather of Cwyfen, coming to the area from North Britain. He built a small wooden church on the property which is now the Church of St Dyfnog in Llanrhaeadr.
The first mentions of the church occur in the Norwich Taxatio Ecclesiastica of 1254 and the Lincolnshire Taxatio of 1291. [2] The South chamber and the door of the tower may both date from this time. [2] The "particularly fine enriched roofs" [2] are later, dating from re-modellings in the 15th and 16th centuries. [3] The Jesse window, the church's most famous feature, dates from 1533. [3] The window is reputed to have been removed and buried during the English Civil war to protect it from destruction. It was re-instated in 1661. [2] The church suffered at the hands of Victorian restorers; Arthur Baker's restoration of 1879–1880 is described as "indifferent" by Cadw [2] and as "inappropriate" in the Clwyd volume of The Buildings of Wales . [4] The church remains an active parish church within the Mission Area of Denbigh. [5]
The church is constructed of limestone rubble with sandstone dressings and slate roofs. [3] It has a double nave, a South chamber and a four-storey tower. [3] The architectural historian Edward Hubbard notes the style as Perpendicular, with the possible exception of the tower door. [4]
The interior contains a "wonderfully complete" Tree of Jesse window, [4] described by Cadw as "the apogee of the early Tudor North Wales school of glazing". [2] The window, showing Jesus's descent from Jesse, [6] has been called "the finest Glass window in all Wales, exceeded by few in England". [6]
The church also contains a number of significant monuments to local grandees including those of Watkin Edwards Wynne [2] and Maurice Jones, the latter "large and Baroque, (a) reclining bewigged effigy". [4] There is also a rare carved pelican, dated 1792, shown feeding its young with its blood. [4] The church is a Grade I listed building, the listing recording it as "an exceptionally fine late medieval church (with) the famous Jesse window". [2]
Basingwerk Abbey is a Grade I listed ruined abbey near Holywell, Flintshire, Wales. The abbey, which was founded in the 12th century, belonged to the Order of Cistercians. It maintained significant lands in the English county of Derbyshire. The abbey was abandoned and its assets sold following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.
Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd is a village and community in Denbighshire, Wales, situated in the Vale of Clwyd about one mile south of the town of Ruthin. In the 2001 census, it had 1048 residents and 50.6% of them could speak Welsh. The figures for the 2011 census were: population 1,053; Welsh speakers 46.9%. The age group with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers was the 15-year-olds, all of whom could speak it. The villages of Pentrecelyn and Graig Fechan are located in the community.
St Bartholomew's Church, Sealand, is in Sealand, Flintshire, Wales and in the diocese of St Asaph The church is designated as a Grade II listed building.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Halkyn is to the north of the village of Halkyn, Flintshire, Wales. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of St Asaph. The church is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.
Christ Church is a church of the Church in Wales, situated in Rossett, Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building. Christ Church is an active Anglican church in the Alyn Mission Area, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph.
Llanrhaeadr-yng-Nghinmeirch is a village and local government community in Denbighshire, Wales, including the villages of Llanrhaeadr and Pentre Llanrhaeadr and several hamlets, including Saron, Pant Pastynog, Prion, Peniel and part of Mynydd Hiraethog. It lies in the Vale of Clwyd near the A525 road between Denbigh and Ruthin. It was also known under the anglicised spellings of Llanrhaiadr in Kinmerch in the nineteenth century, and Llanrhaiadr yn Cinmerch, officially until 6 September 1968. The Community population taken at the 2011 census was 1,038.
St Garmon's Church is in the centre of the village of Llanarmon-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, Wales. It is an active Anglican church in the diocese of St Asaph, the archdeaconry of St Asaph and the deanery of Dyffryn Clwyd. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.
St Mary's Church, Cilcain, is in the village of Cilcain, Flintshire, Wales. It is an active Anglican church in the Bro Famau group of parishes, in the Mold Mission Area, in the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.
St Berres' Church, Llanferres, is in the village of Llanferres, Denbighshire, Wales on the A494 road between Mold and Ruthin. It is an Anglican church in the Bro Famau Group of Churches, the Mission Area of Mold, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is designated by Cadw as a Grade II listed building.
St Michael's Church, Trelawnyd, is in the village of Trelawnyd, Flintshire, Wales. Former Anglican parish church. Previously in the benefice of Dyserth and Trelawnyd and Cwm, the deanery of St Asaph, the archdeaconry of St Asaph, and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is designated by Cadw as a Grade II* listed building.
St Matthew's Church, is in the town of Buckley, Flintshire, Wales. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Borderlands Mission Area, the archdeaconry of Wrexham and the diocese of St Asaph. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
St Mary's Church, Derwen, is a redundant church in the centre of the village of Derwen, Denbighshire, Wales. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. The churchyard contains Derwen Cross, an important medieval sculpture, which is listed at Grade II* and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
St Mary's Church, Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy is a medieval parish church in the north-west of Anglesey, north Wales. The date of foundation of the church, which is in the village of Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy, is unknown, but the oldest parts date from the 11th or 12th century. It has twice been enlarged: in the 15th century, when the chancel was rebuilt, and in the 16th century, when a chapel was added to the south of the chancel, separated by three arches. The tower at the west end is from the 17th century. A south porch of unknown date has been converted into a vestry, and the church is now entered through the tower.
Saint Dyfnog was an early Welsh saint. His feast day is 13 February.
St Saeran's Church lies in the village of Llanynys, Denbighshire, Wales. It was listed by Cadw at Grade I on 19 July 1966. Between 2013 and 2015 £2.5 million was spent preserving the church, which has one of the finest medieval paintings in North Wales. The church's former importance is today evidenced in the sheer size of the interior which is large and spacious; it had close links with the Bishops of Bangor, who were its "rectors" or owners. Like many Denbighshire churches it is double-naved and has a fine pair of the characteristically local late-medieval hammerbeam roofs. The fluted timber pillars between the naves are more unusual, and much later, dating from a restoration in 1768.
St Collen's Church is a parish church in the town of Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales. The first church on the site was founded by Collen in the 6th century. Nothing of this building remains. A new church was built in the 13th century, in the Early English Gothic style. This was developed in the succeeding centuries, and then almost completely rebuilt in the 19th century. The architect of the Victorian reconstruction was Samuel Pountney Smith, who retained little of the earlier church, with the exception of the tower. The churchyard contains the grave of the Ladies of Llangollen, Eleanor Charlotte Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, and their servant Mary Carryl, who lived at the nearby Plas Newydd. In November 2021 the first blessing of a gay partnership in a Church in Wales church was held at St Collen's. The church is an active parish church in the Diocese of St Asaph. It is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.
The Church of St Nefydd and St Mary is an active parish church in the village of Llannefydd, Conwy County Borough, Wales. The village lies 5m south-east of Abergele. Cadw records that the present church dates from c.1550, although it certainly had earlier origins. It was restored in 1859 and again in 1908–1909 by Henry Harold Hughes. The church is designated by Cadw as a Grade I listed building.
St Marcella's Church was the original parish church of Denbigh, in Denbighshire, Wales. Located about a mile east of the centre of the town, the church is dedicated to Saint Marchell (Marcella), a Welsh saint of the 5th/6th centuries. Although with earlier origins, the present church dates to the founding of Denbigh and the building of Denbigh Castle by Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln in around 1290. Most of the current structure dates from a major rebuilding in about 1500. St Marcella's was superseded as the parish church of the town in the 19th century by the more centrally-located St Hilary's Chapel. It remains an active church in the Diocese of St Asaph and is a Grade I listed building.
St Cynhafal's Church is a small, isolated church east of the scattered village of Llangynhafal in Denbighshire, Wales. Its only immediate neighbour is the former rectory, Plas-yn-llan, birthplace of the Rev. Robert Jones, friend of William Wordsworth and where Wordsworth stayed in the 1790s. The church is dedicated to Saint Cynhafal, a 7th century monk, and is the only such dedication in the United Kingdom. Although with earlier origins, the present church dates to the 13th century, and was largely rebuilt in the 15th. It remains an active church in the Diocese of St Asaph and is a Grade I listed building.